HOW DO WE BUILD BACK BETTER? SEDA CONFERENCE 2020 CONFERENCE SEDA
SEDA SEDA Conference 2020 Conference SEDA Build BackBetter The S cottish E cological D esign A ssociation magazine Autumn 2020 £5.00 SEDA
Build Back Better Sustainable SEDA
Shaping a Resilient Future... 02 Build Back Better 12 Daisy Narayanan Chris Stewart Scotland’s Land 04 Gail Halvorsen Supporting Sustainable Renovation 14 Chris Morgan Just & Green Recovery 05 Caroline Rance Giroscope Self-Build 15
Building Back Better … 06 Duncan Roberts Rabia Abrar Sustainable Specification SEDA Solar Hempcrete in Scotland 16 SEDA Solar 08 Tom Woolley & Rachel Bevan Colin Porteous & Gloria Lo
Sustainable Thoughts Sustainable Students
Resurrecting Resilience 10 Black Lives Matter 18 Chloë Yuill & Frances Grant Robina Qureshi
SEDA was formed in 1991. Our at Annual General Meetings. The Editorial team primary aim is to share knowledge, Board is advised by a voluntary Nick Domminey, Viktoria Szilvas & skills and experience of ecological Steering Group which meets 8 times design. SEDA is a network and links a year for discussion and for planning Raina Armstrong those seeking information and services the activities of the Association. All With thanks to all our contributors, with those providing them. members are welcome to take part in sponsors, and supporters. these meetings. SEDA registered as a SEDA’s membership is made up of Company Limited by Guarantee in What do you think of this SEDA a large number of people involved February 2011. in, and with an interest in design, magazine? Do you have any principally in Scotland. Members A SEDA membership is a great disagreements or something useful to include academics, architects, way to support ecological design add to the issues covered? Do you have artists, builders, planners, students, in Scotland. As a member you will an idea for an article? Drop us an email at ecologists, landscape designers, receive the SEDA Magazine for free, [email protected] materials suppliers, woodworkers, get discounted tickets to SEDA events and many more whose work or and the opportunity to connect with Contact us interest is concerned with design for a a wide network of talented designers. seda.uk.net sustainable future. Our upcoming events can be found boxed in green throughout this issue. Facebook.com/ScotEcoDesign SEDA is a charity and is run by a Board of Directors, who are elected Cover image: David Seel @ScotEcoDesign SEDA Magazine Autumn 2020 01
Opinion
Editorial Sustainable SEDA Nick Domminey
Our Autumn SEDA magazine’s might apply to cities. Rabia Abrar members, which will offer a chance masthead is the loose and currently of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance both to discuss how we implement fashionable injunction to “Build Back and Caroline Rance of Friends of some of the week’s ideas and also Better”. Along with “sustainable”, the Earth Scotland both outline a hear Chris Morgan launch SEDA’s “green”, and other ecological series of guidelines and demands Guide to achieving Healthy Indoor epithets, it is used by environmental on government aimed at getting Air Quality, a longstanding and campaigners and offenders alike. increasingly urgent campaign. Rishi Sunak has been known to Build Back Better built into policy. invoke it as an aspiration while the SEDA’s own Gail Halvorsen tackles SEDA Magazine editorial Telegraph’s Phillip Johnson warns the thorny and related issue of team hope you enjoy this season’s that it is a “socialist trap”. Scotland’s land and how it might be edition. Please email us with better managed. SEDA is planning a comments, disagreements or ideas The basic premise is that major conference in spring 2021 to for future issues. the sociological hiatus created by look at this matter in more depth. the Covid crisis requires a “big government” response. But this must SEDA’s AGM and Conference not be a reversion to a pre-Covid, also offers the opportunity to “This was a nice one to get”. So said Professor Sandy Halliday on receiving her latest CO2 belching, alienated normal, but consider Build Back Better, looking accolade, winning the Women’s Engineering at urban and rural aspects over two an opportunity to reinforce those Society, Top 50 Women in Sustainability. It th th aspects which people suddenly saw evenings of 7 and 8 September; was a typically low-key response from the as life enhancing and ecologically login and book your virtual seat. SEDA and Gaia founder member, educator desirable. Chris Stewart’s article has the and environmental activist. Among many other projects, Sandy is currently developing To explore these issues, we have programme and an exposition on a sustainable construction course. It may link Sustrans Director, Daisy Narayanan, the issues. Then, on Thursday 10th in and revitalise the current RIAS Accreditation with an overview of how that premise we have SEDA AGM, free to all in Sustainable Construction. Women's Engineering Society Engineering Women's 02
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Shaping a Resilient Future... For a Post-Covid World Daisy Narayanan
connection; with each other and with the built and natural environment around us. We are presented with a stark choice. We can return to status quo or we can build back better, drawing on learning from these weeks of lockdown and harnessing the resilience shown by communities across Scotland. The public discussion around how we make our places better and more resilient is not a new one. As the impact of the climate crisis started to get real, city leaders across the UK had started to address a whole
Daisy Narayanan Daisy range of issues such as air pollution, Daisy Narayanan, Director of and playing in the city. It was a shock traffic congestion, flooding, physical Urbanism at Sustrans, on the to the system to be in a vibrant public inactivity, and social inequality. opportunity presented by lockdown realm starkly in contrast to where I There was an acknowledgment to build back better and prioritise had just come from. that many of these problems arose walking, cycling and wheeling in our from decades of car-centric planning towns and cities I walked everywhere, the hills gradually getting easier! I got a in our towns and cities, and many In 2004 I moved to Edinburgh bicycle and enjoyed discovering this cities had begun to take action to after having lived for a few years in a amazing city on foot and by bike. I reduce car trips and make it more beautiful small town in America. felt healthier and happier than I had convenient for people to walk, cycle I lived in a gated community ever before. In Scotland, our town and wheel. right next to a glorious lake with a and city centres have always been the Over the past few years, I gorgeous bike trail just off the lake heart of our communities. have been involved in collaborative and a gym and pool less than a mile Unfortunately, somewhere discussions around the quality of our away. Perfect conditions, one would along the way, in the last 50 years, we towns and cities; the environmental, think, to lead a healthy lifestyle? have allowed ‘unhealthy transport’ social and economic reasons for However, I would drive to the to be prioritised at the expense of creating people friendly, ‘liveable’ gym to get exercise. I would drive to more active modes like walking and places. Because for too many people the nearest shop a mile away to do my cycling. in our town and city centres, the grocery shop. experience can a stressful and difficult This has not only had an impact one. When I felt a bit low, I would on the attractiveness of our places hop in my car and drive a few hours but more importantly on our health. Overcrowding on pavements for a walk in the mountains to feel And as we face a collective challenge and the dominance of the traffic better. Moving to Edinburgh changed in finding our way to recover from leads to an anxious experience for all of that. I lived in the compact COVID 19 and learn new ways people with any kind of mobility heart of Edinburgh surrounded by of moving forward, we also have or sensory issues. Making a street, a people out and about living, working an opportunity to recalibrate our neighbourhood, a shopping district SEDA Magazine Autumn 2020 03
Build Back Better
for everyone means creating more traffic: “…so that people can more Government and managed by Sustrans space, more time, more greenery, less comfortably use these low-traffic Scotland, this £30m programme has stress, higher quality of placemaking. streets for physically distant walking, awarded funding to local authorities wheelchair rolling, jogging, and Creating places that people right across Scotland. The guiding biking all across the City.” want to be in, rather than briefly principles are ones of protecting pass through. And within the context The City of Vienna created public health, responding to local of an added urgency through the nine temporary meeting zones, need, being temporary while ensuring declaration of a Climate Emergency, reallocating road space from that measures are inclusive and work there has been a clear recognition motorised traffic to pedestrians in for everyone. that we need to build resilience to areas of high population density with The connection between tackle challenges of the future. narrow pavements and no parks or better public spaces and economic open spaces in the immediate vicinity. The pandemic has brought this recovery has never been clearer. In addition, it fully pedestrianised ongoing discussion and action into People want to go out, they want 20 other streets. In Scotland, we are sharp focus and created an urgency to connect, they want to once again seeing real change being delivered on to accelerate change, with examples share and exchange. There is also our streets too. of rapid, radical action taken across an understanding across sectors the globe. Spaces for People is a new, that making space on our streets for temporary infrastructure programme walking, cycling and wheeling is key It has also shown how, when in Scotland which offers funding and to bringing back economic and social faced with a huge threat, individuals support to local authorities to make it vibrancy to our towns and cities. and communities can rise to the safer for people who choose to walk, challenge. The City of Oakland Change is not easy or cycle or wheel for essential trips and launched Oakland Slow Streets comfortable, but with a collaborative exercise during Covid-19. closing 74 miles of roads (10% approach I am optimistic that we can of roads in the city) to through- Funded by the Scottish find a way to build back better.
The world has changed beyond recognition from that sunny September day in 2004 when I arrived in Edinburgh, but the need to create more people-friendly streets and neighbourhoods has not changed. If anything, there is a much stronger sense of urgency and an imperative to do so. Daisy Narayanan Director of Urbanism, Sustrans Scotland This article was published in the Herald newspaper on 29th June 2020. Daisy has other articles at www.sustrans.org.uk/
Daisy Narayanan Daisy our-blog/opinion 04
Scotland’s Land Use Not Ownership Gail Halvorsen
A major event next spring focused on the present and future of Scotland’s land use has been galvanised by COP26 and given urgency by the coronavirus pandemic. The event will take the form of six online “conversations”, examining and exploring Scotland’s land use & how this could or should change. It forms part of the wider “Build Back Better” movement for a sustainable, more self-sufficient and zero carbon future Scotland. We have spoken to a wide range of people, charities, NGOs and government Loeneing Adrian bodies involved with land and have is ahead of England where shaping future and land management, not ownership. been surprised both by how many land use is concerned, with the Scottish While many are conservative, disparate groups exist with little or no Land Commission established since there is also a significant minority of dialogue between them, but also by their 2016. Part of the current problem is landowners and tenants who are doing enthusiasm for this project. The Hutton undoubtedly the heritage of the disparity things differently, including Anders Institute is lending its support to the event of land ownership in Scotland, but this Polvsen at Glenfeshie, Ninian Stuart and providing scientific back up. Scotland event will be concentrating on land use at Falkland and the Ramsays at Banff. They are all aware of their obligations to combating climate change, increasing biodiversity and involving the local community. For some, the emphasis is on rewilding (Glenfeshie) and for others it is on the local community (Falkland). Jeremy Leggett, former scientific director at Greenpeace, is teaming up with and investing in local timber frame manufacturer Makar for new eco-tourist and affordable starter homes at Bunloit, an estate he recently purchased on the north shore of Loch Ness. With this investment Makar are building a new larger factory on an old airfield near Inverness. The eco- building on Bunloit has the wider aim of deep emissions reduction and Build- Back-Better reconstruction in Scotland. We hope to end the turf wars over land and open people’s minds and encourage them to think about land use in new and exciting ways. See next SEDA magazine for more
Gail Halvorsen Gail details. SEDA Magazine Autumn 2020 05
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Just & Green Recovery Moving forward to a better, fairer, greener Scotland Caroline Rance
As we recover from the pandemic, destruction. Polling has shown that we have a rare chance to transform just 6% of the UK public want a return our society for the better. The deep to the pre-pandemic economy – an inequalities and injustices in society overwhelming mandate for change. have been laid bare, and people We’re calling for investment in our have realised the huge failures in our essential public services for people, not economy. But we also have seen that profit – expanding public ownership of governments can act decisively in an our vital services, including social care, emergency when they choose. and protecting the key workers who We know that we must not go have kept us going throughout this back to the ‘normal’ that was failing so pandemic. many people and fuelling the climate The recovery must also prioritise crisis, but go forward to a better, fairer, and protect those who have been worst greener Scotland. affected by the impacts of COVID-19. That’s why over 80 civil society We know that women, disabled people, organisations in Scotland have come Black and minority ethnic people, and Rance Caroline together to demand a Just and Green people on low incomes have been Build Back Better Recovery from the pandemic and its hardest hit. Even before the pandemic, impacts. Churches, charities, grassroots one in five people in Scotland were living COVID-19 unfolded against groups and Trade Unions working in poverty. Government can and must a backdrop of climate breakdown. across issues of poverty, health, ensure that everyone has an adequate The recovery must set us on the path housing, environment and economics, income to live, redistributing wealth to towards a zero-carbon future, not lock wrote to the First Minister calling for protect the most marginalised instead us into fossil fuels for decades to come. a radical response to the dual crises of of handing bailouts to shareholders. New investment can create thousands coronavirus and climate change. of good, green jobs in energy efficiency, We need to strengthen renewables and sustainable food and Working for People participatory democracy to engage and travel. Together we are calling for the empower communities, trade unions In tandem with the Just and Green Scottish Government to reprogramme and civil society – ensuring everyone Recovery Scotland campaign, Build our economy so that it works for people, has a say in decisions that affect us. Back Better UK are making similar moving away from prioritisation And introduce fundamental human demands of the UK Government at of economic growth and towards rights into Scots law so that safety Westminster. While both governments goals of wellbeing and sustainability, nets are always in place for the most have said positive things, we are yet to ending inequality and environmental vulnerable. see the scale of vision or investment needed to genuinely transform our society for the better. If we want to build back better we must seize this moment for real change. It takes all of us to speak out, start conversations, contact our decision makers. It is our future to shape.
Caroline Rance Climate and Energy Campaigner Friends of the Earth Scotland
Caroline Rance Caroline [email protected] 06
Building Back Better … to a Wellbeing Economy Rabia Abrar
Our world is facing multiple crises: created by a growth-driven economy, based on designing policies governed rising inequality, accelerating i.e. failure demand, are enormous. by goals that foster wellbeing for all climate breakdown and rapid Poverty in the UK alone, costs and harmony with nature. biodiversity loss. These issues are Britain £78 billion every year (Joseph The "Wellbeing Economy" is a interconnected and stem from the Rowntree Foundation). The good broad term designed to be inclusive same core problem: our economies news is that this economy has been of the diverse movement of ideas are structured, governed, and designed – and hence can be designed and actions striving towards this measured to promote short-term differently to deliver social justice and shared vision and can be found growth over long-term stability. environmental health, which would across a surprising range of texts The global pandemic has made prevent this avoidable demand for and backgrounds: it is embedded the injustice, unsustainability and intervention and expenditure. in the scripts of many religions. It fragility of our current economic is contained in worldviews of First system clearer than ever. This is now The recovery period following the COVID-19 pandemic is a window Nations communities. It can be read impossible to ignore. of opportunity to truly transform our in the scholarship of development What’s wrong with the current economic systems. and in research findings about what system? makes people content. It aligns with Building Back Better the psychology of human needs and, The current economic system Recent dialogue has been perhaps most importantly, can be is, in short, unfair, unsustainable, dominated by the idea of ‘Building heard loud and clear in deliberative unstable and unhappy. Back Better’, a phrase that has its conversations with people all over the It is not supporting the roots in international development world about what really matters to flourishing of society as a whole. emergency response. It captures them in their lives. That’s why we see widening economic simply and effectively the need and Many of the component parts inequalities (especially as the very urge to create a better system after the of the new economic system already richest race further away); levels of crisis. exist, but they are fragmented, under- insecurity, despair and loneliness; and “Build” is active and participatory. resourced and fragile. The Wellbeing coping mechanisms that turn people Economy Alliance (WEAll) was inwards or against each other, as trust “Back” suggests that some essential created to address this issue: it is in society and in institutions withers elements of the economic system and a global collaboration pooling the away. Many people fear the loss of indeed daily life will return – but resources and brainpower of over 150 their jobs, insecurity in old age and crucially stands in a helpful contrast to organisations and movements to work the destruction of their dreams and the alternative “back to normal”. toward the vision of economic systems cultural norms. change. “Better” is the most important of the It is not supporting the planet The Building Blocks of a Wellbeing to flourish. Our home is on the three words – our old system is gone. Economy brink of the 6th mass extinction with What do we want to build in its place? the prospect of catastrophic climate A wellbeing economy reorients The Vision of “Better”: A Wellbeing breakdown getting closer and closer. goals and expectations for business, In the last 40 years, humanity as Economy politics and society around the idea a whole has gone from using one The Wellbeing Economy that the economy should serve people planet’s worth of natural resources movement already has many of the and communities, first and foremost. each year, to using one and a half, answers, ideas and examples that The WEAll network has and is on course to using three planets illustrate what ‘better’ can look like. articulated the 5 high-level goals a worth by 2050. If we are to build back to an economic “better” economy must be set up to The cost of fixing the harm system that is truly ‘better’, it must be deliver. SEDA Magazine Autumn 2020 07
Build Back Better
The Wellbeing Economy in Action
Launched in 2018, the Wellbeing Economy Governments partnership (WEGo) is the only living laboratory at scale in the world today, implementing wellbeing economic policies. National and regional governments in Scotland, New Zealand, Wales and Iceland are operating policy labs and promote sharing of expertise and best practices to design an economy in service of collective wellbeing. Already, New
WEAll Zealand has implemented the world's WEAll need... will have equity at its core and be first wellbeing budget, Scotland has proactively anti-racist, feminist and passed climate change legislation 1 Dignity: Everyone has enough to intersectional by design. WEAll’s Old with the world's most ambitious live in comfort, safety and happiness Way to the New Way page outlines goals and launched a revised National 2 Nature: A restored and safe natural how a wellbeing economy will address Performance Framework, Wales has world for all life issues differently – ranging from the its world-leading Future Generations Act and Iceland has developed a 3 Connection: A sense of belonging climate crisis to the food system to the framework of wellbeing indicators. and institutions that serve the justice system. A Collective Undertaking common good The Benefits of Economic Change The shift toward a wellbeing 4 Fairness: Justice in all its dimensions Policies that drive this much economy is a collective undertaking – at the heart of economic systems, needed economic transformation and requires a cross-sectoral movement and the gap between the richest and deliver many benefits including, poorest greatly reduced to create systemic change. Join over but is not limited to, the creation 150 organisations in the Wellbeing 5 Participation: Citizens are actively of economic and job opportunities Economy Alliance (WEAll), in our engaged in their communities and through the growth of the renewable collective efforts to Build Back Better locally rooted economies sector and the circular economy; to a Wellbeing Economy. By delivering on these needs, a improvements in environmental facebook.com/WEAllAlliance/ wellbeing economy will enable good quality and equality, with positive twitter.com/WEAll_Alliance lives for people the first time around, effects on health, wellbeing, and instagram.com/weall_alliance/ rather than requiring effort to patch economic resilience; poverty reduction linkedin.com/company/weall/W things up. A wellbeing economy and economic and social resilience. #WEAll #BuildBackBetter 08 SEDA Solar
SEDA Solar Sunspace Scenarios & Challenging Solar Innovation Colin Porteous & Gloria Lo Form Factor Improvements
Sunspaces or enclosed solar 1. Existing Thermal Envelope 2. Concept 3. As Built 30% reduction in heat 30% reduction heat loss area loss area and thermal bridging reduced. balconies ought to play a central role Residual heat loss calculated. in Scotland, considering that sunny Recessed balcony has Recessed balcony brought Recessed balcony brought signifcant external area into thermal zone into thermal zone and heat loss
External balconies part of Fire escape balconies External balconies Fire escape balconies cut Balcony slab projection Fire escape balconies internal floor slab. separate from internal removed to mitigate to allow insulation to pass encapsulated in separate from internal Significant heat loss floor slab and supported thermal bridge through insulation. Winter garden slab. Residual heat loss days can still be very windy and it on outriggers space added external to calculated thermal envelope is common to have four seasons in a day. Scotland averages 32% of its daylight hours with sunshine and a similar 35% with rain (assuming half the average rainfall is at night time). Glazing can help as a wind break, Collective Architecture - Form Factor Improvements Factor Form Collective - Architecture rain shelter, and help trap the heat gain even if not in full blazing sun. mould was publicised during Glasgow’s the contest, there was much discussion on But do we use them as often as we year as European City of Culture in effective ventilation and0 10heat 20retention30 40by M should in our designs? 1990. Community activist, Cathy the groups. The adopted solution ensured Architectural commentator James McComack, directed a community play, air-pathways from sunspaces into heated Steele referred to ‘The Solar Cult of The Dampbusters. The result was an EU- rooms, with exhaust by extract fans from the 1970s’ in 2005. In reality, modern funded Solar Demonstration Project at kitchens and bathrooms, plus passive passive and hybrid solar design became Easthall (36 1960s flats), Glasgow. ‘stack’ ventilation from the main bedroom. well established in the USA in the 1930s, Details of the project and the The 2-year monitoring validated the and, primed by two 1980s ‘Passive Solar process that led to it are held at Glasgow efficacy of solar-ventilation-preheat, key Architecture in Europe’ competitions, School of Art’s Archive (GSA was variants are down to occupants’ use of continues apace today; e.g. Lacaton & ‘academic subcontractor’ charged with controls, including opening/closing vents Vassal’s recent sunspace housing retrofits 2-year’s monitoring). The EU demo was and windows. preceded by a trial upgrade of a 6-flat in France. Cedar Court block under a ‘Jobs and Energy’ scheme Dampbusters of Heatwise Glasgow; in turn preceded Today, Collective Architecture’s In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a by the 1987 Heatfest Community Ideas Cedar Court retrofit of three towers for remarkable community-led initiative for a Competition organised by Easthall’s Queens Cross Housing Association near solar retrofit that eliminated fuel poverty parent organisation Technical Services Glasgow’s M8, also built in the 1960s, along with scourges of dampness and Agency (TSA) with the Scottish Solar makes for intriguing comparison, with Energy Group (SSEG). Briefly, as existing its conversion of former balconies into tenements were randomly orientated, sunspaces plus upgraded insulation and each flat was retrofitted with two glazed glazing. spaces, one to front (original balcony) There are two significant differences. and one to rear (utility room off kitchen); Cedar Court’s sunspaces employ a hence adding dual, sometimes sunlit, proprietary Windoor folding-sliding, spatial amenities. Thermally, along with single-glazed system, which allows outside upgraded insulation, glazing and heating, air to filter in when completely closed, these constituted solar-enhanced buffers reversion to an open balcony when fully and a source of pre-heated fresh air for opened, and stages in between. Thus it ventilation; while roof-mounted solar air contrasts with Easthall’s double-glazed collectors provided pre-heated domestic opening windows. The other difference hot water. is that whereas Easthall had continuous Heatfest placed tenants in the mechanical extract ventilation (MEV), driving seat, helped by students and Cedar Court has mechanical ventilation professionals to propose and present with heat recovery (MVHR), with a
Collective Architecture Collective schemes in a live competition. During supply register halfway down the living SEDA Magazine Autumn 2020 09
SEDA Solar
reality. It is with this hope, that we encourage everyone, of any age and walk of life, to experiment, to share the joy of learning and of discovery, and to participate in our Award for Solar Innovation. Kerr MacGregor Memorial Award for Solar Innovation, SEDA Solar intend to relaunch the Kerr MacGregor Memorial Award for Solar Innovation, to continue a legacy of a great man. We are open for submissions now to [email protected] with a deadline of 1 December 2020. Entry method is very simple. Just submit one image (photograph or diagram) and a short description, which details why and how the innovation (research and/or prototype) can benefit or expand solar technology Entries will then be shortlisted for exhibition at the Solar Trade Association Conference in Spring 2021, where the shortlisted candidates will have the chance to present their A1 poster to the judges prior to final decision. For more details on our website with a template for download. We look forward to your entries in
Collective Architecture Collective continuation of Kerr’s footsteps. room. Despite designer’s intentions, air require anti-freeze. SolarTwin marketed circulation is fickle, and very dependent it commercially. Then there was his self- on what occupants leave closed or open – built hybrid motorbike with a water fuel a future research project – human vagaries tank, and his solar bagpipe! These are versus engineering? just some of the many projects which he engineered, demonstrating his wide- Solar imagination ranging ideas and sometimes whimsical Research and appropriate enthusiasm. His true passion was for solar technology were fundamental to SSEG’s energy, driving throughout Scotland in his founder, a mechanical engineer, Kerr biodiesel ‘Solar One’ van, with hands-on MacGregor. Kerr was an innovator, who teaching equipment to educate everyone inspired a generation of energy engineers. about solar technology; from children in kindergarten, the general public at He invented Smart Solar Shades festivals, to professionals and engineers. for use with sunspaces in homes. Kerr’s problem-solving determination also Kerr was the proof that imagination produced a solar panel that did not coupled with deep thought can become Backcourt Arrangement of Proposed - Axonometric Munro Willy 10 Sustainable Students
Resurrecting Resilience In an Uncertain World Chloë Yuill & Frances Grant
Frances Grant, a third-year architect student at the Mackintosh School of Architecture (MSA), and Chloë Yuill, an architecture graduate from MSA, reflect on their experiences of learning and consider how resources can help reform our practice.
As educators, architects, academics, students and citizens we find ourselves once more bound by uncertainty. In a time where emergency, crisis, environments and economies dominate our domains the Studio Up strategic positioning positioning strategic Up Studio question is valid, is now the time to change our approach? We have been The UWE Bristol MOOC course generation of thinkers, designers but given the opportunity to recreate our carries obvious technical advantages first people. practice and so maybe now is the time but what I had not anticipated Chloë : Studio Up- Net Zero Carbon to look inward, to reset and resurrect was its influence on my social and Incubator our resilience through resource. personal behaviour. An emerging We have reached the time when self-confidence in my skill set. A Frances: Learning during lockdown we all must upskill if we have any reinvigorated approach to sustainable hope of realising net zero carbon CPD courses have previously design. A refreshed perspective in buildings by 2050. MOOC, as carried this stereotypical and arduous lateral thought. An expanded network described by Frances, is an exemplar presence of being the necessary of industry professionals and a new- case among many throughout the evil in our industry. To test these found appreciation of the everyday UK offering various opportunities testimonials, I undertook my first context we design for and those that to learn zero-carbon techniques venture into external CPD learning we impact. Over the course of the and combat the climate emergency. over lockdown through the UWE five weeks, it became a reset button. Bristol Massive Open Online Despite this, COVID19 brings a Course (MOOC). The course The metaphor of the reset real threat of economic decline, aims to facilitate learners with the button allowed me to further analyse with the Sutton Trust reporting that knowledge of zero-carbon design how external learning aids our job vacancies have reduced by 65% and construction while addressing understanding of the personal values compared to last year with thousands of jobs already lost. the technical, social, and economic we hold as designers. Yet, what makes challenges which are present in the these core values we consolidate upon A series of workshops in May transition to zero-carbon building. through CPD resources interesting is held by the RIAS Sustainability This course initiated my dismantling that they are unique and different to and Climate Change Working of the CPD stereotype. These courses each individual. Mine transcends in Group, inspired a response to both are more than racking up CPD hours sustainability and utopia. Yours may the Covid-19 pandemic - and its and technical jargon. Intentionally reflect regenerative development and impacts on employment in Scottish interwoven within their fabric is a cyclical economies. But this divergent architecture whilst concurrently, moral, social, and personal incentive combination of values is something proactively responding to the Climate that aims to better us as people first; of a celebration. CPD facilitates this. and Ecological Emergency. The spark designers second. It makes us an interesting and diverse of what would become Studio Up was SEDA Magazine Autumn 2020 11
Sustainable Students
ignited. The existing uncertainties Governments for 2050. Heating our chartered architects and other created an opportunity for RIAS homes and industry alone account professionals with the required to enable, support and catalyse an for 32% of UK emissions. If we are to competencies and tools, strengthening unprecedented upskilling exercise improve efficiency in homes, retrofit necessary to tackle these crises. first and design a more sustainable their sustainable credentials. Studio Studio Up delivers a net-zero carbon built environment then we must Up combats the economic effects of incubator as a catalyst tool for clean strengthen research and development Covid-19 by providing expert advice and sustainable economic activity and invest in education and skills at about funding, portfolio working and and to foster and promote confidence all ages and levels throughout the within the construction sector. The profession. Set against the economic business development support to help platform reaches out to architects, impacts of Covid-19 the incubator set up architecture micro-businesses graduates and those who are looking will develop an equitable way of and produce new business models. for work and the wider construction attaining knowledge and networks industry. The platform provides its to Build Back Better and ensure Frances’ experience emphasises community of collaborators with the improved, more efficient housing, the genuine value in elective courses; fundamental resources to upskill and clean air and green spaces for all. not just learning to rise to code, shape a more resilient and sustainable Unlike a typical incubator, sector for the future. but to diversify, to inspire, to foster Studio Up offers opportunities confidence and collaborators to The primary objective of Studio to increase net zero carbon skills Up is climate change adaption and by collaborating with an existing bring to our practice. Her story is mitigation through education and network of innovative organisations one of several that could be created upskilling. Studio Up recognises the in Scotland including SEDA, CSIC, though the development of a vital contribution the construction ZWS and ECCI. The Studio Up industry must make in fulfilling the platform will deliver training in the platform that facilitates upskilling legally binding carbon neutrality latest sustainable design techniques and a community with shared targets set by the UK and Scottish and protocols, equipping RIAS ideals but diverse skills to meet the requirements of today’s world. Studio Up is that platform and will empower a new generation of climate literate and zero carbon design fluent practitioners that will not only shape the resilient profession of the future but will foster confidence, agility and flexibility to transform the built environment landscape and design the future carbon neutral or carbon positive society. Studio Up is always looking for support and if interested please contact RIAS for more
UWE Net Zero Carbon illustration Carbon Zero UWE Net information. 12 Sustainable SEDA
Build Back Better Every silver lining has a cloud Chris Stewart
We read, hear and say these words. They make sense, they mix a pandemic crisis, the looming recession it spawned with eye watering sums of money, to spit out a shockproof economic solution to climate emergency. What does that mean, what should we do, and has it already been stolen. Build Build Build
Zoom webinars feed our hunger for recovery plans. We turned on to the Common Weal and Our Common Home, a ‘14 aspect green new deal plan for Scotland’. We tuned in to Doughnut Economics, ‘seven ways to think like a 21st Century Economist’. And dropped out with the Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN) and their three overarching aims, 1. Decarbonise Now, 2. Ecological Regeneration, 3. Cultural Transformation. Loved them Seel David all, each a planetary self-help road housing quotas, can only lead to ill Boris Johnson chum but the Scottish map to grab my imagination, only conceived construction. It will all fly Government’s chair of their advisory to wake up the next day and wonder under the banner of beauty, in the group on economic recovery. I am no what to do. They demand major form of pattern books and design nationalist however do have faith in structural change, they are correct codes, written and judged by watch Nicola Sturgeon and hope this is just however there is another change in this space. a market economy partisan uttering. town, We sit smugly North of the SEDA Conference Build, Build, Build. border feeling immune from such It is within this context that Boris beats this drum down thoughts and look forward to the I welcome the Scottish Ecological south with their overhaul of the National Planning Framework 4. I Design Association’s 2020 conference English planning laws. Tearing up was one of those who spent many what has been an effective system a midnight hour writing a response ‘How do we Build Back Better’. in place since World War 2, they to the recent Scottish Government’s Scheduled between the 07th and propose a straightforward set of ‘Call for Ideas’ in what for me 10th of September in a series of categories; growth, renewal and seemed like a real opportunity to three evening events. SEDA offered protection, to encourage automatic Build Back Better. I now shudder up some of the best recent webinars planning permission and a reduction when I read headlines like ‘Green including Doughnut Economics, Our in scrutiny. History tells us planning zealots risk wrecking recovery, top Common Home and Meet ACAN, deregulation on this scale, including economic adviser warns’ in the The that track record suggests this should reductions in mandatory affordable Times (06.08.2020). This is not a be an interesting exploration. On SEDA Magazine Autumn 2020 13
Sustainable SEDA
the 07th September Urbanity will defined as a holistic concept in those solidarity and community across be scrutinised while on the 08th ponderously titled, far from easy reads borders. September Rural takes the spotlight. ‘Disaster Risk recovery for Economic ‘How do we Build Back Better’ Ideas from both will be presented to Growth and Livelihood, Investing does not appear to have an easy the SEDA membership on the 10th in Resilience and Development’ and answer, free marketeers pull it in September and help form their agenda ‘Recovery and Reconstruction an one direction while so called green for the coming two years. All to be opportunity for Sustainable Growth zealots tug it in another and all the revealed at the RIAS Convention on through Build Back Better’ both while the climate emergency clock the 29th September. penned in 2015 and adopted by the keeps ticking. Please join SEDA in UN. Today the movement is fronted Build Back Better September for a wee scratch of the by the straightforward ‘Build Back head and a think, how can we just get Ahead of that, a bit of Better’, a recovery plan based on on with it. homework is in order. Build Back five principles: Secure the health For more information on the SEDA Better first emerged from the Central and needs of everyone in the UK conference please visit seda.uk.net/ Java earthquake of 2006 by the Japan now and into the future; Protect and events International Cooperation Agency invest in our public services; Rebuild For more information on the Reconstruction team. It is a simple society with a transformative Green RIAS convention please visit common sense concept, eventually New deal; Invest in people; and build riasconvention.squarespace.com
SEDA Conference & AGM 2020, On-line
Monday 07th September 6.00-7.45pm HOW DO WE BUILD OUR CITIES BACK BETTER? On Zoom, £4 non members, £2 SEDA Members and concessions With Graham Ross of AS:L Architects, Deborah Hay of The Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Professor Ken Gibb of the University of Glasgow Tickets from: sedaconference2020urbannight.eventbrite.co.uk
Tuesday 08th September 6.00-7.45pm HOW DO WE BUILD OUR RURAL AREAS BACK BETTER? On Zoom, £4 non members, £2 SEDA Members and concessions With Ailsa Raeburn of Community Land Scotland, and Magnus Davidson of the University of the Highlands and Islands Tickets from: sedaconference2020ruralnight.eventbrite.co.uk
Thursday 10th September 6.00-8.00pm SEDA AGM, and Discussion: SEDA priorities for BUILD BACK BETTER Featuring Chris Morgan of John Gilbert Architects, previewing the next SEDA Guide to achieving Healthy Indoor Air Quality SEDA Members only, free admission Tickets from: sedaconference2020agm.eventbrite.co.uk 14
Supporting Sustainable Renovation An investigation of policy proposals for Scottish Government Chris Morgan
In July the UK Government voucher which would pay for two-thirds does not leave a lot of time and - with announced a £2billion fund - the of the costs of a tradesperson installing anything that is rushed - there is a risk Green Homes Grant - to be spent insulation and / or various renewable that works will not be as well considered, on improving energy efficiency in heating systems. Poorer households may or as carefully installed as they might be. homes across England and Wales - receive up to £10,000 and the poorest Despite not being available in but not Scotland. More detail was would not have to contribute at all. Scotland this is clearly a good thing and released in early August. Perhaps the most important aspect insofar as it is means-tested to some extent The principal mechanism to is that it appears that the fund will be and leads to improvements taking place encourage uptake of energy efficiency available in September but will need to that might otherwise not have happened, measures (EEMs) will be via a £5,000 be spent by the end of March 2021. This it is to be welcomed. Early criticism of the grant appears to have borne fruit in that works can now only be undertaken by tradespeople approved under the Trustmark scheme, which responds to fears that the fund would have encouraged ‘cowboy’ builders. In addition a ‘Simple Energy Advice’ service will also run to help people make choices on what to undertake. Scottish green homes? Whilst the money will not be available to us in Scotland, the announcement precipitated a welcome debate on what sort of support we should expect from government. From a SEDA perspective, I would imagine we would all agree that: there is a climate crisis to which all government activity should be responding, and that there is clearly a dearth of available funding so we need to use it as wisely as possible. With that in mind, our concerns about the fund and the way it has been set up are, that whilst it will no doubt lead to some carbon emissions savings and fuel poverty reduction, it will not achieve anything like the savings it could have done. Indeed it may well cause other problems - and costs - which will go some way to negating the benefits achieved elsewhere. This is the nub of the problem we have elaborated on in the Sustainable Renovation Guide available from SEDA
John Gilbert Architects Gilbert John and its main funder, the Pebble Trust. If you SEDA Magazine Autumn 2020 15
Sustainable SEDA John Gilbert Architects Gilbert John install EEMs without an understanding Sustainable Renovation Guide which sustainable-renovation-pamphlet of how they affect the whole house, and discussed the principles of a more holistic The policy ideas are presented in if you don’t independently check for approach to retrofit and a number of four sections: policy and procurement, quality there is a real risk that the works practical examples, we were encouraged the design process, the build process don’t achieve the savings anticipated, to investigate a range of policy proposals and the occupancy period. They include and in addition cause ‘unforeseen which could be actioned by Scottish well-worn ideas such equalising VAT on consequences’ which create problems for Government and other agencies to provide retrofit vs. new-build, more controversial health and building integrity, along with the wider context with which these ideas like nationalising SAP and others possibly significant costs elsewhere. The efforts could be best supported. We have focussed on ensuring the sort of design diagram illustrates this when considering produced a pamphlet with 15 policy ideas. overview and site quality checks noted insulation installation, for example. It is free and downloadable from both the above, along with ideas to help people Supporting Sustainable Renovation Pebble Trust website & the SEDA website living in homes save energy and improve Following the publication of our www.seda.uk.net/pebble-trust/ air quality. Giroscope Self-Build Coltman Street, Hull - Part The Third Duncan Roberts
Hot water panels integrated into the tiles. The dormers will be zinc-clad. The doors & windows have been ordered through the Green Building Store after a fascinating Covid-restricted trip to visit their show-room near Huddersfield. Delivery is due by mid- October, by which time the roofs should be covered & the walls framed to receive the windows straight from the delivery lorry. Wall construction is a double stud arrangement lined internally with OSB & sheathed externally with the same board
Duncan Roberts - Coltman Street third house third Duncan Roberts - Coltman Street as will be used on the roof. Giroscope’s volunteer programme is Since the last update, the frames of entrance porches to the North side. still in lock-down mode at present & so the second & third houses have been The roofs will soon be sarked all the building work has been carried out successfully raised using an electric using a T&G bituminous fibre board by a small team with a maximum of four winch. The pulley was attached to manufactured by Hunton Fiber & people on site at any time. the apex of the preceding frame to imported to the UK by the Panel Agency. Once the shells are wind & water- give sufficient vertical pull to lift the This material was also used on the five tight & the Warmcel insulation pumped frames into position. self-build houses built in Ballingry, Fife in - early in 2021 - the project will move All three houses now have their in the late 1990’s & has been a staple of on to the fitting out stage where the work rafters in place & additional work is being timber-framed projects ever since. will be familiar to the Giroscope team carried out to form the dormer windows The roofs will be covered in Santoft from the 120+ refurbishments they have - one to each house - together with the 20/20 clay tiles with a mix of PVs & Solar undertaken over the last 35 years. 16 Sustainable Specification
Hempcrete in Scotland Regenerative potential Tom Woolley & Rachel Bevan
the chopped and dried woody core of the hemp plant, is mixed with a lime binder and water. It sets remarkably quickly and shuttering can be removed within 24 hours. Building with hemp and lime is a relatively simple process and can be understood by any good builder with appropriate training so it is easily adopted into mainstream construction. It’s important to use the correct mix proportions, though these can vary according to how it is being used, and controlling the correct amount of water is also essential. The hemp and lime is normally mixed in a horizontal forced action mixer and then tipped into shuttering and lightly tamped. The spraying process is a little different. Wall thicknesses are typically 350mm to
Rachel Bevan Architects - Hands on hempcrete class on hempcrete - Hands Architects Rachel Bevan 450mm and as thin as 50mm if sprayed Hemp and Lime composite walling is of buildings including huge wine and onto existing walls. one of the most exciting ecological food warehouses3, a 6 storey University Currently the main source of hemp forms of construction, providing building in Bradford4 and many private shiv is in Yorkshire8. Specialist lime superb thermal performance and and social houses. Hempcrete housing binders are made in Northern Ireland9 a great way to achieve healthy and in Elmswell, Suffolk was designed by and Shropshire10 but some architects sustainable buildings. Hempcrete is this year’s RIBA gold medal winners5. specify materials imported from France a lightweight solid walling system Hempcrete is increasingly being used to even though some overseas products often used with timber frame. There retrofit old buildings. Gordon Brown set contain significant amounts of cement. are numerous options, cast around up the “Renewable House Programme” Hempcrete is very popular with self- a timber frame with temporary with £6.7 million in 2008 and this builders and environmental activists shuttering, sprayed onto shuttering, led to 12 innovative housing projects, and we have run numerous training workshops around the UK and Ireland, used as blocks or in prefabricated mainly using hempcrete, but some with strawbale, wood fibre and sheep’s wool6. Canada, Chile, Poland, Holland, South panels. It is also a very useful retro- Africa and hope to do one in Scotland fit option which can be cast, sprayed There are at least 12 hempcrete some day! A film about a hempcrete house or plastered onto existing masonry houses in Scotland. In 2019 Rachel Bevan Architects designed a hempcrete house we built for ourselves in Northern Ireland walls. 11 for clients in SW Scotland but had some has been viewed many times . Hempcrete has been widely used difficulty with local building control, Hempcrete provides insulation ever since the construction of two houses despite other hempcrete houses having in Haverhill in Suffolk in 2000. Architect already received building warrants. In Ralph Carpenter1 and the BRE were able order to overcome this problem, Rachel to demonstrate that the hempcrete houses managed to obtain LABSS approval7. outperformed two identical houses with Design Stage Approval for this latest bricks and mineral wool insulation. In project has now been given and is 2008, the BRE published the Guide to currently on site. Hemp Lime Construction2 and since then Hempcrete can be used in floors hemp lime has been used in hundreds and roofs as well as walls. Hemp shiv, Rachel Bevan Architects - Hempcrete wall in construction SEDA Magazine Autumn 2020 17
Sustainable Specification
be very fire resistant and is an excellent way of ensuring good indoor air quality. Interest in hemp has grown significantly in recent years so care should be taken to get the best advice, rather than relying on a growing number of questionable guides and web-sites! Hemp has huge regenerative potential as it has many agricultural benefits with valuable uses from the fibre, CBD (if legal) and as a food and oil source. Hemp can be grown in Scotland and as it locks up carbon more quickly than other bio-based materials it can make a huge contribution to the push for zero carbon.
Rachel Bevan Architects - Hempcrete cottage County Down - Hempcrete Architects Rachel Bevan Scottish Hempcrete projects that have received building warrants Private dwelling Dunsmore Lodge, Native Architects, Highland that has excellent thermal-mass and is Relative Humidity of around 50% all year Beauly York Orkney Netherbreck, Graemeshall Road Native Architects, also vapour permeable. Finished with an round and most hempcrete buildings stay Islands Blomar Hiolar York Argyll & Native Architects, Private dwelling, Colonsay NHL lime plaster means that plastic air- at 14-15°C without any heating. Bute York Perth & Ecological Tombreck, Lawers Aberfeldy tightness membranes are not necessary, Kinross Architecture LLP It is essential to use breathable finishes Perth & Ecological House Rynachulig Farm Killin simplifying the construction build-up. Kinross Architecture LLP and paints and hempcrete buildings are While the “u” value of a hempcrete wall Perth & 3 Bedroomed House Croft house Ecological normally finished externally with a lime Kinross Tombreck Lawers Architecture LLP can be good enough to pass building Perth & Single Storey Extension, Blackhaugh Ecological render or rainscreen cladding. Hempcrete Kinross Farmhouse, Spittalfiled Architecture LLP Two Storey House Extension codes its performance in practice can be Ecological Angus Careston Hall, Careston Brechin provides a fantastic opportunity to create Architecture LLP much better than predicted, due to the Angus Roderick James low-carbon buildings and can easily Oak-framed private house Tigh Highland Architects RJA thermal-mass and humidity regulation. Crom Achabeag, Morveen Peninsula achieve nearly zero performance due to LLP Hempcrete is shown to have a nominal Oak-framed hempcrete private Roderick James Highland house Ikwig Achabeag, Morveen Architects RJA thermal conductivity of 0.07W/mK and carbon sequestration of this crop-based Peninsula LLP Tom Morton Arc- Fife Monimail a Vapour Resistivity of 10MNs/gm. A material. Hempcrete construction is Architects Dumfries & Rachel Bevan Gatehouse of Fleet wall construction comprising 350mm of economically viable, even with the higher Galloway Architects Private dwelling, Hagbrae Farm, labour costs of installing the hempcrete. Halvorsen Hempcrete will give a U-value of 0.20W/ Lothians Gorebridge (approved but may not Architects m2/K. Hempcrete houses can maintain a Hempcrete has been demonstrated to go ahead)
1. https://www.modece.com/ 2. https://www.brebookshop.com/details.jsp?id=325431) 3. https://www.vincent-gorbing.co.uk/architecture/the-wine-society 4. https://www.bradford.ac.uk/estates/capital-projects/completed-projects/sec/ 5. http://www.mikhailriches.com/project/clay-fields/#slide-2 6. https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/Low+Impact+Building:+Housing+using+Renewable+Materials-p-9781444336603 7. https://www.labss.org/hempcrete-1 8. https://www.harrisonspinks.co.uk/news-press/harrison-spinks-ecoshiv 9. https://www.k-rend.co.uk/products/k-lime/hemp-lime-binder) 10. https://www.lime-green.co.uk/ 11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOVNlKXxEBw We run training workshops. For a quotation contact [email protected] Rachel Bevan Architects - Elmswell hemp housing in progress 18 Sustainable Thoughts Sustainable Thoughts Black Lives Matter Housing refugees in Scotland
Robina Qureshi
2020 will be remembered for many generations – a global pandemic, tragic death toll, unprecedented lockdown restrictions and huge changes to daily life. 2020 will also be remembered for the Black Lives Matter movement for justice and against racism. In Glasgow, these two factors have collided in an ongoing humanitarian crisis around asylum seekers’ universal human right to housing and an adequate standard of living. Homes and Justice Robina Qureshi Robina In 2019, the UK Government awarded Mears Group - a private report also reveals that in the first four future. Again, asylum seekers are being outsourcing company, a ten year months of the contract, Mears was moved with little or no consultation, contract for asylum accommodation fined £3.1 million for various failures. access to money, food or Wi-Fi (vital and support services in Scotland. The Hostile Environment for contacting family). UK Government web page says the Positive Action £1.15 billion contract is for “a particular In Glasgow, courageous whistle- focus on assisting individuals through blowers, sustaining pressure from Mears and the Home Office the asylum system. They will ensure campaign groups and media attention, have questions to answer about their that vulnerable asylum seekers have forced some hotels to eventually begin failure to assess the mental health of access to the support they need and set providing decent food, cleaning rooms people left vulnerable at the height clear requirements on the standard and and making laundry facilities available. of the pandemic and lockdown. Many basic human rights were won, but condition of accommodation.” Questions also about two decades of only through struggle. Unfortunately, misery created by forced dispersal and In 2020, in the middle of the systematic mistreatment and multi billion-pound asylum contracts pandemic, Mears pulled asylum humiliation by Mears and the Home awarded to the lowest bidder, including seekers out of their flats with as little Office continues. This reveals what companies unqualified to deliver the as an hour’s notice and put them into the UK government calls the “hostile necessary support services. Questions overcrowded hotel accommodation environment.” We must say it loud without the required risk assessments. and clear, Black Lives Matter and this about making asylum seekers fear that At the same time, their £5.39 daily includes people seeking asylum and if they complain it could impact on living allowance was stopped. Asylum refuge in the UK. their asylum claim. This is why Positive seekers reached out for help and local Action in Housing and hundreds At time of writing, some people organisations responded. of organisations and individuals are are being moved back into flats, but calling for a full, independent public Mears were warned about the many into flats they’ve never seen inquiry. Please visit Positive Action in physical and mental health risks this with several being uninhabitable – not Housing on Facebook or at paih.org/ created. Mears ignored the warnings. maintained or cleaned. Some people In Glasgow we saw the tragic death have been asked to sign a document category/latest/ to add your name to of two asylum seekers and six people (without translation or interpreters), the call, donate or volunteer. being severely injured, including one a waiver of people’s right to seven Robina Qureshi is Director at Positive Action in police officer. A National Audit Office days notice before being moved in the Housing.